Jay Inslee in South-by-Southwest political conference

The Washington governor has been focused laser-like on the issue of climate change. "We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change," he said, "but we are the last generation that can do something about it." He noted that a recent
Iowa poll showed that the environment was the top issue for Democratic voters, tied with healthcare. With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal helping to push the topic to centre stage, Mr Inslee could be in position to capitalise on the attention.

His big idea: Clearly environmental action is the central thrust of Mr Inslee's campaign, although he says he has no one preferred policy "silver bullet", but rather wants a multifaceted "silver buckshot" approach.

His biggest challenge:
If he succeeds in raising his visibility by pushing the environmental issue, his biggest challenge will be using that attention to sell Democratic voters on the rest of his progressive record in Washington.

On Government Reform:
End the filibuster; it dooms good legislation

One big idea [that Gov. Jay Inslee] threw his weight behind [at the SXSW conference] in Austin was eliminating the legislative blocking tactic known as the filibuster in the US Senate: "Anyone who says they want to do anything of any significance in the
next several years has to be in favour of ending the filibuster or they're not serious," Mr Inslee told me. "So if you say you're serious about climate change, but you're not categorically against the filibuster, then you're dooming the US to failure."